Riddle of Love
by DemiSpy
Summary: Has anyone else ever wondered why Hermione didn't end up in Ravenclaw? Here's my version of what the hat told her before placing her in Gryffindor... and how she and Ron figure out what it meant! Post TDH - Ron/Hermione - Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling… but I definitely wish I were.**

**Claimer: I own whatever isn't J. K. Rowling's here… ok? **

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><p><strong>IMPORTANT NOTE: <strong>

_**This is after TDH, but Ron and Hermione never kissed or started dating. Just to point that out.**_

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><p><em>Hermione's POV<em>

I sighed and picked up Ron's notes. Honestly, I don't know how he's managed through so many years at Hogwarts.

Oh, that's right. Thanks to _me._

I'm glad everyone got a second chance at the school year they lost because of the war, but I'm stressed as ever thanks to the redheaded dope sitting next to me.

Oh, right, let me explain.

The war is over, thankfully. Harry and Ginny started going out, though Ron still isn't all that happy about it, and thanks to that we don't see Harry around much anymore.

I'm really happy for them and don't mind, but it's clear Ron needs masculine company to be calm.

"Ron, would you stop doing that?" I said when he started twirling my hair in his hands for the twentieth time today.

"Sorry 'bout that. It's just I'm so bored!" Ron answered, sulking and sitting back on the tree.

We were outside doing homework… or at least I was. Ron kept telling me to _check his notes_, meaning he wrote four words, then I wrote four lines. And so on and so forth.

I didn't mind that much, I'd already finished all my tasks, but it got to my nerves that he didn't even seem to try.

I finally wrote the last sentence and handed his notes back to him. "There. McGonagall won't kill you this week."

"Thanks Hermione, you're the best."

And that's the sentence that made it worthwhile.

Alright so I won't lie. I _may_ have the _slightest_ crush on my freckled friend, but I'm not the type of person to show it, much less admit it.

And besides, the few times I've _tried_ to make him notice, it ends up in disaster or some stupid comment from him.

So I keep quiet and sulk while he admires every single other girl that passes by.

I suddenly heard fingers snapping in front of me. "Hermione… Hermi-o-ne…" Ron kept saying.

I snapped out of my thoughts and focused my gaze on him, feeling the blush start to creep up my neck.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," I said.

"Yeah, I noticed. Honestly Hermione, how did you get into Gryffindor? You're all for Ravenclaw, with that brain of yours, and yet here you are."

I sighed quietly. I didn't get it either. I mean, I know what that wretched hat told me that day… but I still didn't get it.

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked.

"N-no! No no no! Not at all! But you have to admit it's confusing."

I nodded. "I don't really get it either, I mean, I don't really have the main traits a Gryffindor should have…"

I don't even have the guts to tell this idiot I'm practically in love with him!

Whoops… yeah… uh… you didn't hear that from me.

"Yeah you do Hermione, you belong here. But I really am curious how Ravenclaw let a brain like yours escape their claws! Ha! Get it? Ravenclaw? Escape their _claws_?"

Lovely, I fell for an idiot that can't do his homework on his own, but can make bad puns without any effort.

"Yeah Ron, I noticed," I said, laughing quietly.

"Didn't the hat… tell you something? Like it told Harry? You know… when he was-"

"About to get stuck in Slytherin? Yeah, I know what you're saying. Harry convinced the hat to let him someplace else and he got Gryffindor. I've heard the story a billion times Ron."

He grinned. "Right. I knew that. But you didn't answer my question. Did the hat tell you anything?"

_Duh. But I don't have a clue of what the riddle meant._

I bit my lip. Should I tell him…? I mean, I'd never told anyone, I'd always wanted to figure the riddle out on my own.

But maybe he would understand it…

Yeah right, he'd understand it just as much as he understood half of what I wrote on that paper.

I decided to simply not let him know and still dwell on the riddle.

So imagine how surprised I ended up when my mouth formed the words I never though I'd say.

"Yeah, it gave me this strange… riddle. It told me that I belonged in Ravenclaw, but that I needed to be in Gryffindor. Then it just told me… gibberish. I've been trying to understand for years, and I still don't get it."

Why did I just say that?

Ron gaped at me. "You never told us!"

"Well, I wanted to figure it out first. I didn't know what it meant."

He gave me an evil stare. "Don't you think we would've helped you figure it out?"

_Well yeah… but a few words suggested it hid some very embarrassing meaning…_

"I did, but I wanted to figure it out on my own."

_Just in case…_

Ron sighed. "Fine. So… what is it?"

I furrowed my brow. "Huh?"

"What's the riddle?"

"Oh. Well… I, uh…" I just kept babbling like that.

No way I'm telling him that!

"C'mon Hermione, spit it out!"

"No!" I squeaked.

I'm squeaking. Wow, I have issues.

"Hermione… I know that voice. C'mon, you're supposed to trust me."

"What voice? And of course I trust you! You're my best friend!"

_Just_ my best friend.

He sighed. "If you trust me so much, you should be able to tell me."

Oh great. _Now_ he's thinking.

I bit my lip. "Fine. But don't make fun, understand?"

He nodded.

I thought a minute, making sure I remembered each word.

Oh who am I kidding? I literally have those words printed in bold letters at the front of my mind!

"_What some matters the mind cannot take on alone, _

_The heart resolves with courage so bold._

_What the mind seeks to resolve on its own,_

_Will not be clear until the heart reveals the untold._

_What mind and heart need to together survive, _

_Lives in the house of the lion, a need to which you are blind._

_What the mind seeks for the heart to be complete, _

_You will find, if long and hard enough you seek"_

I paused for a second_. _Then I said, "see? Gibberish! I have no idea what _the mind seeks and the heart needs_. And the _matters the mind cannot take on alone_? Honestly, what in the world is that?"

I waited to see Ron's reaction, but he was just staring, lost in space.

"Ron? Ro-on…? Hello?" I mumbled, snapping my fingers in his face.

Wow, De Ja Vu much?

He snapped out of it. "I have no idea what the heck that means."

I sighed. "Told you! It's gibberish!"

"Alright Hermione, relax."

"Relax? Relax! How can I relax when I've been trying to solve some stupid riddle for almost seven years?"

Okay, maybe I _am _overreacting a bit.

"Alright, easy there. Now, let's think. Tell me the first sentence."

"Verse Ron. It's a riddle, so it's called a verse."

"Whatever! Just repeat it."

"_What some matters the mind cannot take on alone__._ Now, what was I unable to do on my own back then?"

"Uh… how to put your messy hair in a ponytail?"

I whacked him on the head.

"Alright, alright sorry. That was a bit low. But even you've admitted your hair used to be a nightmare."

"Shut up Ron. Now think."

"Well, there was the problem with the Sorcerer's stone back then… but that was a long time after your talk with the hat. And besides, what would the hat know? It's not Professor Trelawney, and she's a nutjob on her own!"

"Ron!"

"What? Even _you_ hate her!"

"Ron, I hate the _class_. She's not a failure, and she proved that much when we heard Harry's prophecy."

"Well yeah, but you still hate her."

I glared. So what if I never got along with her all that well?

"Back to the point."

"Right. Well… you had problems making friends back then, didn't you? I mean, that didn't last long, but no offense, you did have a few issues with that."

I glared even harder. "I don't think that's it either."

He held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry…"

I sighed. "Just… forget it Ron, I don't think I'll ever figure it out."

He looked at me with wide eyes. "You're giving up."

I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. Instead, I simply looked down at my hands in my lap and stayed quiet.

"Alright, that's it. We're not moving from here until we figure the riddle out."

"Ron…" I started, but he held up a finger.

"No buts. Now, let's see…"

He looked for something in his bag and then took out a notebook and a pen.

I raised an eyebrow at the muggle supplies.

"Alright, you have to admit muggles have it easier at some things."

I chuckled quietly and took the pen.

I wrote down the riddle again in a blank sheet of paper.

"Here," I said, handing the notebook and pen back. "Now what, Mr. Genius?"

He smiled and put the pen back in his bag.

"Now let's see, let's go two by two with the _verses_ as you call them. Let's see if it's easier then."

He looked over the paper, and read:

"_What some matters the mind cannot take on alone, _

_The heart resolves with courage so bold."_

He looked up. "So you needed to be brave to figure out whatever your mind couldn't do?"

I thought on that. When he said it that way…

"Could be," I said. "But I still don't get what my mind is supposed to be figuring out."

"Step by step Hermione… relax…"

I glared.

He chuckled and read the next two lines.

"_What the mind seeks to resolve on its own,_

_Will not be clear until the heart reveals the untold."_

He laughed when he finished reading that.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Think about it. It sounds like your situation right now. You try to figure the riddle out on your own, you don't manage, you tell me, and looky here! We're figuring it out!"

"Right… becaue it's clear that my heart was the one that decided to tell you about the riddle," I said sarcastically.

Even though I knew everything I just said was true, in a way.

But he didn't have to know that.

"Of course!" he said, playing along. "Because we both know you _so_ love me."

"I know!" I squealed in a girlish voice while laughing. "It's so obvious that I'm so desperately in love with you!"

We both doubled over laughing. We got a few strange looks, but we didn't really care.

I knew everything I said was true… but hey, acting it out for so long gives you experience.

We both finally stopped laughing.

"That was hilarious," Ron mumbled while rubbing his eyes.

"Agreed," I said while holding my side.

"Alright," Ron said, straightening up. "You're not off the hook yet. What do you think those two lines mean?"

"Well, I've always been the type of person to try to do things on my own… but I eventually give in. Don't you think that's it?"

He nodded. "Most likely, I can't really see any other meaning to that."

_I can…_

"Let's move on to the next one," I said.

He nodded and read.

"_What mind and heart need to together survive, _

_Lives in the house of the lion, a need to which you are blind."_

"Well, it must be something that counts both as a mental and emotional issue," I said.

"Yeah, but this one is tough. You have _far_ too many mental issues Hermione, and your emotions are a bit complicated to understand. I'm not going to be much help in this one."

I glared. "You make me feel so much better…" I muttered.

He grinned. "I'm just special that way."

I whacked him on the head for the billionth time today. "Shut up."

"Anyways," he said, while rubbing his head. "The next line… the house of the lion is Gryffindor, that one's easy."

I nodded. Even _I _had that much figured out.

"A need to which you are blind… something you didn't realize you needed?"

"Yeah, but _what something_? What did I need so much back then that I have now? Or what am I still missing? I mean, I have everything I'd ever want and-"

I cut myself off.

I'm still missing something.

_What the mind seeks for the heart to be complete._

My heart isn't complete.

Not if Ron keeps being as stupid as he is.

So… technically, I'm asking for a major miracle.

I sighed and put my head in my hands.

Honestly, why me? I've gone through so much trouble already in my life… why?

"Hermione? You in there?" I heard Ron saying.

I looked up. "Sorry, just lost it for a second."

"So I noticed, what were you thinking about?"

"Stuff," I said plainly.

He looked at me. He didn't believe me one bit.

I must've had some strange expression though, since he let it go.

"Alright then, we'll figure out what _that something_ is later. Let's move on to the next two lines."

I nodded.

"_What the mind seeks for the heart to be complete, _

_You will find, if long and hard enough you seek."_

He read it carefully, watching my expression.

I must've broken down pretty bad… whoops.

"Well, that might as well mean that my head knows my heart is missing something," I mumbled.

_No duh._

"Apparently so. You must be conscious of that detail, aren't you? I mean, you use your mind 24/7, it must come up every now and then," Ron said.

_Oh… not really. It only comes up about every five milliseconds, when I'm not remembering I'm supposed to breathe, _I thought sarcastically.

"What?" he asked.

"What do you mean, what?" I asked.

"What did you say?"

Oh darn. "I said that out loud, didn't I?"

He nodded, a smile playing on his lips.

I glared, unable to contain my blush. "Right… I knew that," was all I said.

He raised an eyebrow. "So… what is it?"

Again, De Ja Vu much?

"Whatever Ron."

"C'mon Hermione, you can tell me."

_As if._

_Big If._

"Hermione… lost in thought again… wakey wakey…" I heard Ron saying.

"Wow, I'm really out of it, aren't I?" I said when I finally blinked out of my thoughts.

"No duh. C'mon Hermione, tell me what's on your mind. I'm not gonna bite."

I glared. Wow, I'm drifting off and glaring a bit much today, aren't I?

"That's about the tenth glare in five minutes Hermione," Ron said. "What's wrong?"

That's when I snapped.

Now, if you know me, you understand that I am an _extremely _patient person.

So me snapping is… rare.

So you know how stressed out I was.

"Alright, you want to know what's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong! Honestly Ron I can't take it anymore! I mean really, I can't be any more obvious but you're too stupid to notice! I mean the riddle is finally making sense and it's all thanks to you, idiot! And you're too stupid to notice that! The riddle is about you, stupid! And the fact that I've been drifting off is that I can't help but relate EVERY. SINGLE. VERSE to you! You and only you! And I'm so stressed that you're just so blind because honestly you can't get any more stupid when you don't realize after all these years that I'm freakin' in love with you!"

I suddenly stopped.

Oh darn.

I cursed under my breath and did the first thing that came to my head.

I ran.

And ran.

And ran.

I couldn't help but think how girly I must've looked yelling all that and running off… wow I feel stupid.

I didn't realize how far I'd ran until I suddenly found myself in front of Hagrid's house.

I looked around, but Hagrid was nowhere to be found.

I sat on the steps to his house and buried my head in my hands.

Honestly, what the heck was I thinking?

I'm seventeen! I shouldn't act this way!

And yet only a few moments ago I gave out the worst screams in my life.

What the heck was Ron doing right now?

Probably laughing his butt off, that's what.

Man, I'm so stupid...

I didn't cry, I'm not that girly, but I did find myself extremely angry… and depressed.

I probably just lost my best friend, and my only chance of ever being anything more than that.

I thought on the riddle again.

So now it made sense.

I found friends in Gryffindor. Friends who helped me go through... well, _everything._

And I helped them too.

I smiled at the thought of all my adventures with Harry and… Ron.

And there we go back to the main topic.

Why did I act like that?

I hit myself in the head repeatedly against my knees, thinking the same word over, and over, and over again.

_Stupid, stupid, so stupid, I'm so stupid, stupid, so stupid…_

"You know, you're going to run out of brain cells if you keep on doing that, no matter how many you have," a faint voice said.

I looked up and saw Ron jogging over to where I was sitting.

Oh great, so he came to make fun? In my face? Really?

"What do you want?" I said in a very… monotone, manner.

He sat next to me. "Why'd you run off like that?"

_Yeah, why did you?_

"You want the truth?" I asked.

"That would be nice."

I looked at him straight in the eye and said, "I have absolutely no idea."

He laughed. "I figured as much."

I glared and sulked back down onto my knees.

"Hey…" he said softly, placing a hand on my back. "Did you… mean it? What you said back there?"

"Ron, we've both known for quite some time that you are, as a matter of fact, stupid."

What? I needed to avoid that question somehow…

He sighed. "You know what I mean."

I rolled my eyes. Great. Just. Great.

"Yeah," I found myself saying.

Why hide it anymore? I already ruined our friendship, I don't exactly have much left to lose.

I swear I almost felt his smile. "Good."

I looked up. "What do y-"

I was cut off by something on my mouth.

At first… I didn't exactly do anything.

Can you blame me? I was kinda shocked…!

I slowly started to kiss him back, and felt him smile against my lips.

I grinned back and kissed him softly, feeling his arms wrap around my waist.

I pulled my hands over behind his neck and played with his hair.

It was softer than I expected… not that I ever thought about his hair. Nope, I never said that.

I decided to tease him a little and pulled on his hair, but he only pulled on mine for revenge, not letting go of me.

Considering I had more hair… and it was a lot more painful than it -probably- was to him, I stopped pulling.

When we finally broke apart, our foreheads together, I smiled slightly.

Ron, on the other hand, had a full blown grin.

"You have no idea how long I waited to do that."

I frowned. "I doubt as long as I did."

"Wanna bet?" he asked.

I didn't have a good feeling about that… "Not really."

He chuckled softly. "Thought so."

I glared, but it quickly melted.

_Well, I guess that riddle was worth the wait._

I smiled at the thought. I'm going to have to thank that hat...

I then realized I hadn't exactly figured out that riddle yet. Not completely, at least.

_Eh, it waited almost seven years, _I thought. _It can wait a little longer._

And on that happy note, I leaned in again and closed the gap.

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><p><strong>AN:<strong>

**Now all together please: Awww!**

**Haha hello there everyone! It's nice to be in the Harry Potter archive! **

**Lol, let me say something. I read HP a **_**looong**_** time ago. I re-read sometimes, but it's not the same. So please excuse any OOC-ness, okay? Plus, this is my first fic in this section, and probably my last too… I'm not that great with these characters, even though I've tried countless times before.**

**Anyways, about this story (one-shot, whatever).**

**I got the idea for it when I finished TDH, but I always wondered why in the world Hermione didn't end up in Ravenclaw.**

**And until a few months ago, I didn't know about the site, and when I read TDH I didn't have the slightest interest in writing… So until now the world gets to know my version of why she's not in Ravenclaw!**

**Haha plus, I'd forgotten about it until today… I was watching the movie (5****th****) so yeah… I remembered it for some reason.**

**Hope you liked it! R&R!**

**-DemiSpy.**

**PS. Do you guys want me to do Ron's POV on the story?**

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><p><strong>Alright just to clear it up, here's the whole meaning behind the riddle, since I didn't exactly specify back there.<strong>

_What some matters the mind cannot take on alone, _

**The 'matters' were helping Harry with all his 'adventures' and such. She couldn't handle all that with **_**only**_** her head. She needed more than logic to go through all that.**

_The heart resolves with courage so bold._

**You know how people always say how courage and inner strength and all that comes from the heart? That's what I meant there.**

_What the mind seeks to resolve on its own,_

**This one has 2 meanings. 1 - Remember how at first she was always troubled and stuff because she wanted **_**everything**_** to be logical and such? And it didn't just mean what happened in Book 1, it was actually talking about ALL the adventures and all the stuff she figured out. 2 – Figuring this riddle out, alone she couldn't, I think I made that part quite clear :P She needed **_**Ron**_**'s help.**

_Will not be clear until the heart reveals the untold._

**Same 2 meanings: 1- She finally opened up to the **_**illogical**_** (which isn't that much when you live in a world of magic) and everything made **_**sense**_** from there on and their adventures were more… simple, to put it that way, for her at least. 2 – She told Ron about the riddle and finally figured it out, right? And Ron was real close to most of the answers, they just didn't make sense at first.**

_What mind and heart need to together survive, _

**Both her mind and her heart needed to work together to survive all the adventures and such, right? It's sorta like satisfying both their needs for everything to work out. –okay, this one's confusing so just tell me in a review if you didn't get it.**

_Lives in the house of the lion, a need to which you are blind._

**The 'need' for her heart was friendship, and eventually love, and that she found in Gryffindor, she wouldn't have Harry and Ron and everyone else if she were in Ravenclaw, would she?**

**Well, maybe. But I'm not going to dwell much on that.**

_What the mind seeks for the heart to be complete, _

**Her mind needed to stop being so **_**logical**_** and more… fun, I guess, so that she would open up to have friends and such.**

_You will find, if long and hard enough you seek_

**She did try hard, and she made friends. She made an effort –though that one definitely took longer, and she got Ron. **

_**Now, **_**do you get it? Hehe, I had the hardest time thinking up the riddle… :P But I did, eventually. Haha you should've seen the first version of it. HILARIOUS! (and no, in case you were wondering, I will NOT post that version of it here... since I deleted it :P)**


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